08 April 2018

The Poison Tree


Back cover copy: In the sweltering summer of 1997, strait-laced, straight-A student Karen met Biba – a bohemian and impossibly glamorous aspiring actress. She was quickly drawn into Biba's world, a for a while life was one long summer of love. But every summer must end. By the end of theirs, two people were dead – and now Karen's past has come back to haunt her...

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Hodder & Stoughton, 2011.

How acquired: Via BookCrossing.

First line: I let the telephone fall from my hand.

My thoughtsAnd another fantastic new to me author! Claire Seeber, Peter Swanson, and now Erin Kelly. I've already hunted down and collected most of Seeber's and Swanson's back list (plus preordered Swanson's newest), and now my Discover card will get another workout as I hunt down everything Ms. Kelly has written. For a long time my go to has been romance, but these three authors are sending me on a new and wonderful path!

Told in first person POV by Karen, the narrative bounces back and forth between the present and the past. In the past, Karen meets Biba and is mesmerized by her, and by her Bohemian drug-fueled life's-a-party lifestyle. Not so much by Rex, though in the present we know that she and Rex are a couple and have a daughter. We also know that Rex was just released from prison for murder, but we don't know who died or when.

I love Ms. Kelly's writing, it's as mesmerizing as Biba is to Karen. As Karen tells us her story, she drops tantalizing little hints or alludes to something that happens later, and I was constantly on the edge of my seat waiting for the big reveal, and grasping at each secret that finally came to light. Guessing who would die, and then second guessing myself. With good reason, as I was completely wrong.


A five star read for me, and I'm upset that none of the platforms I subscribe to - Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, Acorn TV – have the movie version available! I need to see it! 

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